In July I had a lovely, relaxed photoshoot at home with Donna Lawson. The weather was great, so we managed to do some outdoor shots too! I meant to post these weeks ago, but what with Fantasy Forest (I’ll post some photos next!) and Covid (yes, I know, 3 times now) I have only just got the mental energy to sit down and do this blog post!
Based in Evesham, Donna specialises in street photography, but decided to branch out more into family, wedding and boudoir shoots. You can also get casting portraits, live gig photos and corporate images too!
I really hope you enjoy the ones I selected. I can thoroughly recommend Donna, especially for more candid photos that capture moments you didn’t even notice. It was a real pleasure working with this lovely lady!
If you are interested in booking her for a shoot, you can get a whopping 20% off by mentioning this special code: KVM20 up until the end of December! This is purely for my followers, so we are really lucky to be given such a huge discount! You can contact Donna Lawson at enquiries@donnalawson.co.uk
Well, Betsy and I are still doing our crazy walks down our road and even managed to make the local paper. Thank you to the residents who got in touch with them!
I’ve also got a few more images of some of our other walks below…
I hope you have all been staying safe and healthy in these unsettling times! It can be incredibly intense and claustrophobic being isolated, but you are doing great.
To update you with what I’ve been up to…every single week day, my 4 year old daughter and I dress up in a different theme and take our 1 hour of exercise time. My plan was to create some crazily cool memories for Betsy, focus on something fun by dressing up and bring some morale to the street. I suffer with depression quite badly and love the escapism of fancy dress or costuming. The fact I can use this outlet as a ray of sunshine for other people and keep my mental health more-or-less stable in these uncertain times is brilliant.
I began by writing a list of characters we could do and even bought a mic that has a little inbuilt speaker so that I could sing to the residents too. At first we only saw a couple of people looking, but now most of the street waves or twitches their curtains at 11.30am each morning!
When I moved here 4 years ago I became familiar with about 4 people in my street. Who would’ve known that a desperately worrying time would lead to so many more friendships being formed from 2 metres away?
So far we’ve done Disney Princesses, Unicorns, rainbows, fairies, Maleficent and a dragon, Steampunk dolls, Mary Poppins, Dorothy Gale (Wizard of Oz) and Glinda the Good Witch, 1940’s, 1950’s and my favourite… Santa and his elf!
It was BAKING this Tuesday and I was dressed in full Father Christmas outfit, complete with beard, wig and hat. I had ordered a pack of 50 toilet rolls that I stacked inside my cart, which was decorated with tinsel, a reindeer and more! I put some vintage festive songs on my Bluetooth speaker and we made our way down the road. Everyone who waved got a toilet roll and I ran out! I left one on a parked ambulance, along with some sweets. “Ho ho ho! Meeeeerrrrry Covidmas!”
What else have I done? Oh! I wrote a parody of ‘It’s in His Kiss’ (made famous by Cher in Mermaids). It’s called ‘Is it Covid’ and you can see it HERE.
I’ll keep you updated on happenings. I’m just trying real hard not to lose my marbles. X
What a lovely weekend! We managed to hire our first ever baby sitter (eek!) and head off to Woody at War’s 1940’s dance at Stoneleigh on the Saturday evening. We haven’t been to a dance since I was pregnant! The last time I went to this one was when Kieran at the USO Shows was running it, so I didn’t know what to expect. Woody had done an excellent job and had even set up a little USO stage for me to sing on! The place was packed and everyone looked wonderful.
On the Sunday it was time for the Stoneleigh Militaria Show. I was singing in the foyer at 1pm, so we had plenty of time to walk around the stalls! I had managed to do little victory rolls in Betsy’s hair and she looked ridiculously cute in her khaki jumpsuit and headscarf.
There were 3 really good clothing stalls at the show 2 in the main hall, 1 in the second) and I got a lovely bargain 50’s straw bag and a jacket to wear with my Heyday trousers. Richard got me a lovely wool suit for Valentine’s that I can’t wait to wear!
It was wonderful to see some familiar faces and new ones alike. Some people I hadn’t seen for so long, they didn’t realise that I now sing?! So many cuddles and greetings, lots of cooing over Queen B and her hair, lots of catching up and a great singing set. I always enjoy this show, I think many of us treat it as the ‘real’ new year in the 1940’s scene as it is the first event of the year for us! It seemed to be a lot busier this year too.
I thought I would treat you to a fun little shoot I did in the snow on Saturday! A little bit of vintage pinup for the festive season. ‘Yule’ love it!
Wearing an original 1950’s gold lame swimsuit; originally used in a circus in LA, 1940’s rubber and fur over boots and a 1930’s fur muff with ruched silk on the back with a hidden purse pocket. The boots are wonderful as you just wear your own mid-heel shoes inside. They act as wellies to keep the rain, snow and mud off your footwear!
Today I did a set of soothing 40’s to 60’s songs at Leif Tearooms! I couldn’t wait to meet up with my friends and try the afternoon tea. Usually there is a piano player, but this time they got me on the mic! I was upset to hear that one of my friends was poorly, so couldn’t come along, but we managed to have a good time and wished her a speedy recovery.
Time for another shameless plug… I was yet again wearing one of Time Machine’s amazing vintage reproduction outfits! The barkloth fabric is amazing and contrasts beautifully with the polkadot cotton of the skirt. You may have seen me wearing the trousers of this set at Battles for Victory last year! I also have some shorts too! I teamed this outfit with some vintage Bakelite and jade bangles that picked out the yellow and green beautifully.
So back to Leif! The afternoon tea is priced at £12.95 and is delicious and filling. You get to choose 2 Sandwich fillings and these come on a tiered slate cake stand with slabs of cake, really gorgeous scones (fresh not frozen!), strawberries (guessing these are seasonal) and the obvious clotted cream and jam. Your tea is served in a loose leaf pot, so nice and fresh.
I do prefer the little patisserie fruit tarts you usually get with afternoon teas as scones AND sponge cake can be a bit too heavy. I only managed the sandwiches, strawberries and scone, but it was a delight.
Hopefully I will be asked back to sing again some time! Enjoy your weekend! X
Ah yes, another corker of an article released today about our lifestyle; full of misquotes and fabrications to make us look weird. Always take this type of thing with a pinch of salt and a smirk!
Apparently we eat like they did in the Blitz (you know…powdered egg, rationed bacon, spam, pizza, tiramisu, korma…)
Betsy’s Bing and Peppa Pig toys are from an ‘erstwhile age.’
Kitten von Rew????
Oh and of course Betsy loves the wartime classics (?!), like this fairies book from 1950 for instance (blatantly on the front cover)…
The grammar is impeccable…if you aren’t fussed about punctuation and sentences making sense…
This wonderful image below was used in the article and not credited. It was taken by the talented Candee Photography!
As you can see from part of this email, I previously contacted the company about misquotes and other info. Some of it was taken onboard… I mean, they corrected my name.
Finally, thank you to Koray Erol the photographer. He did a great job on the day!
I had never been to this event before, but lept at the chance to perform there after seeing the main website and video! I was certainly not disappointed. All around the church, nearby streets and in the fabulously Gothic churchyard, there was a feast for the eyes. From bands to costumes, craft stalls to body art, I was in heaven!!!
Kitten at Art Couture Painswick
I performed on Friday Street first after listening to a wonderful duo called Bear and Kitten. Such pure, sweet voices with a piano and guitar. I could curled up in a ball and fallen asleep to their innocent tones. From this little stage I had a wonderful view of passers by and people stopping an the stalls. I found that I had to stop myself from laughing from time to time as there were so many dogs silently greeting each other, whilst the crowds wandered too and fro. I imagined the dogs tipping their hats to each other as they sauntered on…I know, it was rather hot…
A dress and hat made from knitted and loose VHS tape!
Next I got changed into my half and half costume! I was debuting the outfit at the show and it was a raging success! People kept telling me I needed to get on the stage for the competition, but I had to tell them I was a singer, not part of the catwalk! Just the confidence boost I needed! I hung around in the performers area to get some snaps of some of the amazing body art before we had to go. It really was spellbinding as you can see!
The amazing body painting at the ACP Festival! Oh, and me in my new costume!
I did a wonderful photo shoot with the VERY talented Candee Photography, modelling a few of Lilly Lewis’ fine creations. From showgirl chic to Ascot ready, we had a superb time in the studio! I don’t get to do my dramatic 1930’s makeup that often, so reveled in the chance to test out my basic skills for the film noir era.
Here are some of the images I have managed to work on so far. All effects and backgrounds (yes, even Metropolis!) have been created from scratch by myself and balance Candee’s wonderful camera skills.
Enjoy!
My version of ‘Mewtropolis’!
Art Deco inspired movie poster of Cleopatra. The hieroglyphics actually spell out ‘Lilly Lewis Hats’!!!
Modelling what we have nicknamed ‘The Mermaid Hat’ with strings of pearls attached
There is more to come, so stay tuned!!! All image copyright is Candee Photography and Kitten von Mew. Please DO NOT use these images without prior persmission from ourselves, thank you!